Tunnel Vision

Hezbollah is also monitoring Israel’s tactics against tunnels in Gaza to learn more about defending its own. Every tunnel that is located and destroyed by Israel is studied carefully by the Shiite terrorist group and the conclusions are implemented immediately.

Israel is not resting on its laurels, and according to foreign sources, Israel dropped white phosphorous bombs in southern Lebanon after October 7 to burn off foliage in the mountains and forested regions, to expose tunnel openings. That action uncovered 12 more such openings, which were then destroyed. An Israeli military source told the French paper Libération that the IDF is using motion sensors, fiber optics connected to the G4 network, robots, drones, and information sources to map out the tunnel network.

Senior Northern Command officials I spoke to this week declare confidently that the IDF has a “sufficient” intelligence picture regarding the scope of the tunnels, their location and their routes, “at least in southern Lebanon and in areas that pose a direct threat to Israel.”

Given that this same IDF declared over and over again after Operation Northern Shield that there were no more tunnels crossing into Israel, despite repeated warnings by frontline residents that they could hear digging under their homes, these declarations should be taken with a healthy dose of salt.